Throughout the pre-season, Post basketball reporter Eric Koreen will ask a few personal questions to members of the Toronto Raptors

Throughout the pre-season, Post basketball reporter Eric Koreen will ask a few personal questions to members of the Toronto Raptors. Today: Ed Davis, 23, heading into his third NBA season.

Who was your favourite player going up and why? Probably KG, Kevin Garnett. He was just a guy that I grew up watching.

[Another reporter walks by Davis.]

Late, ain’t you? Man.

He’s not as professional as I am, obviously. Anyway, he was just a player I grew up watching and I tried to pattern my game after him.

Quincy Acy had the same answer as you. Right. He didn’t pattern his game after him as much as I did.

It’s funny, because Garnett seems to be the popular answer among young power forwards, but Tim Duncan came along at the same time. Why do you think Garnett is more popular with players? It was just all of the extra stuff that KG did, the yelling and all of that. But if you look at the stats, Tim Duncan’s stats are better than Kevin Garnett’s stats in damn near every category. It’s just because KG was more athletic than Tim Duncan. He was more fun to watch.

[np-related]

Which coach was most influential in your career? I wouldn’t say a coach. I would say my dad [former NBA player Terry Davis]. He was just a person that helped me with my work ethic, got me up every morning and was at damn near all of my games. I wouldn’t say one coach changed my basketball career because one coach didn’t.

Was it hard to take criticism from your dad? Some days it was tough, just because it’s coming from your dad. There’s that that father-son relationship [that is tricky]. But he really did help me a lot. Without him, I wouldn’t be in the NBA today. But it was tough some days. We would get in arguments. I’d want to fight him some days. But you know how it is.

Who’s your favourite teammate ever? I’d say DeMar [DeRozan] is up there. We’re real close because I’ve been knowing him since ninth or 10th grade. We’ve got a good relationship now. I would say D. … Coming out of high school made us that much closer. We’ve got the same personalities, like the same things. That all helps.

What are your goals for this season? Just to help the team make the playoffs. I want to be a big part of that.

What’s one thing about you that people don’t know that they should know? I’m a boss. I’m a boss.

Go on. I just do boss things, move like a boss, talk like a boss, act like a boss. That’s about it.